IP: Life on the Internet - Series Review

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

    Date: Thu, 04 Apr 1996 23:29:21 +0000 (GMT) From: Kevin Dando, PBS
     Subject: Life on Internet Site Reviewed [111]
     
     
     April 4, 1996
     
     David Plotnikoff Column 
     San Jose Mercury News
     
     TRUE MULTIMEDIA: I haven't hesitated to make light of the stunts, 
     stumbles and gaffes of the big television networks as they attempt to 
     stake out some sort of franchise in the new digital universe. So it's 
     only fair that I point out there is one network that Really Gets It: 
     PBS. The public system's 13-part ``Life on the Internet'' series is 
     shaping up to be a major milestone. Not only is this television's 
     first meticulously researched, in-depth look at the Net, it's also the 
     first time a television production has harnessed the full power of the 
     World Wide Web. The companion site for the series -- at
     http://www.pbs.org/internet -- is a four-star job, loaded with links, 
     compelling original content and interesting software goodies. Each 
     half-hour episode of the series -- on topics such as education, 
     privacy, medicine, religion, music, publishing, commerce, e-mail, 
     cryptography and demographics -- eventually will have its own set of 
     pages on the site. And each of those pages will contain links to every 
     site mentioned on the broadcast. This is hands-down the best example 
     of cross-media integration I've yet to encounter. It puts almost all 
     of the pricey Internet guidebooks on the shelves today to shame. (The 
     ``History of the Internet'' page is essential reading for anyone 
     on-line.)
     
     And it gets even better: If you miss an episode you can catch the 
     entire show, in VDOLive format, on the Website for a week after the 
     original air date. Essentially, this is one of the first examples of 
     Net television-on-demand.
     
     WHYY will begin broadcasting the the series in June.